


The Reporter and The Piper

by fezwearingjellybananas



Series: Tess Lives AU [3]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Minor Barry Allen/Iris West
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:07:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24898153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fezwearingjellybananas/pseuds/fezwearingjellybananas
Summary: Her best friend was the Flash and he was in love with her, Doctor Wells was actually the Reverse Flash- the man Barry had been looking for since they were eleven- and there was some dubious goings on at S.T.A.R. Labs, and Iris knew how to deal with exactly three of those things. Maybe talking to Hartley would help. At the very least, she'd find out exactly where to start her investigation
Series: Tess Lives AU [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1571149
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	The Reporter and The Piper

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Iris Week Day 3: Reporter Iris. Though perhaps slightly less reporting than I initally thought.

Barry was in love with her.

Barry was also the Flash, but that made sense now she knew, he’d been struck by lightning the night of the accelerator, the Flash showed up when he woke up, and obviously if her best friend got superpowers his first thought would be to help people. She would have worked it out herself as soon as she got past the idea of Barry keeping something from her. But, apparently, he had a lot of practise with that. He’d spent years not telling her he was in love with her. And he'd made it very clear he didn't expect it to change anything between them and he would stay her friend regardless of his own feelings because it was more important she was in his life as his best friend than she returned those feelings, but it was still big. And he'd also told Iris he'd give her some space for a few days, until she wanted to talk. And she did want to talk, love confessions were the kind of thing she'd normally want to talk about, only the person she wanted to talk about it with was Barry and that wouldn't work right now. She just needed a few days to get her head around everything and then everything could go back to normal.

Only it couldn't because Barry was in love with her. And maybe he'd been in love with her this entire time, but she hadn't known that. He was Barry, he was her best friend, he was a constant in her life. They were Barry and Iris. Best friends forever. Nine months without him was hard enough, Iris couldn't lose him again, she knew that much.

Actually.

Maybe there was someone she could talk to.

* * *

"Why are we going to a bar?" Hartley asked.

"My best friend is in love with me," Iris said. "And you know about the other thing."

"Damn it, I could have sworn that mask-"

"Wait. You're the Pied Piper?"

"Merde."

"Désolé."

"You didn't know."

"Barry told me you'd been helping him. He didn't out your identity. Thank you."

"For what?"

"Saving me from Snart."

"Well, we're not here to talk about that. Barry finally told you."

"You knew?"

"I think you may have been the only person who didn't. Barry is hardly a master of subtlety. Though I suppose that's an outside perspective looking in, to you both it would just be your normal. Why would you suspect anything when that's how it's always been?"

"He said he's tried to tell me before and hasn't found the words."

"I can see why it would be hard for him to talk about."

"Have you ever..."

"Yes."

"And you told them."

"No."

"Why not?"

"A myriad of my own internal fears and failings.”

"I'm sorry, Hartley. Your parents shouldn’t have treated you like that.”

"They were frustrated enough I was born deaf, this was just the final nail in the coffin. They're bigoted capitalists, not the sort of people I want anything to do with anyway."

"But they're still your parents and it hurts?"

"The only thing I miss is my sister."

"I get it. You know that my parents are divorced."

"Yes. I don't think I've met your mother."

"She lives in Keystone. And she was just gone for a while. Her and Dad actually went to school together, they were childhood sweethearts, and then she got pregnant and they kind of rushed getting married for me. And I've talked to her about it, she got diagnosed with depression after I was born, initially they thought it was postpartum but it didn't go away, and she was in a really bad place when she found out she was pregnant again. And she left, she didn't know how Dad would react to her plan to get an abortion and she said overdosing felt like she'd let me down and I would be better off without her in my life, so she left. And she didn't get one. She said she couldn't, even though she had no idea how to go back and tell Dad, she couldn't. And then Wally was born, and she kept working on getting better and it was really hard because she had no idea how to tell Dad, but she did come back. She wanted Wally to know Dad, she missed me, and she wanted us both to know it wasn't our fault. And I guess sometimes it's hard, sometimes she still had bad days, and sometimes I think Dad still gets angry that he missed the first year of Wally's life, but every other weekend I'd go to Keystone to stay with Ma and the other weekends Wally would come to Central to stay with Dad. And he has been a bit busier lately, he's at C.C.U., but he is my brother and I do love him."

"But not how you love Barry."

"He was my best friend first. And I have a brother, I didn't need another one. And Dad does consider Barry his son, but Barry never came with me to Keystone, and he was so angry when we were younger about what had happened. Henry suggested he change his name once, either to West or Thompson, Nora's maiden name, and he was so furious that Henry had even thought about it. Barry loves my dad. But he's had a lot of problems accepting that because it felt like he was betraying Henry, it's only since he's woken up he's been dealing with it better. I guess if Dad knows about the Flash, he believes Henry's innocent now and that probably has a lot to do with it. So no, Barry's not my brother, he's Barry."

"But you never thought of him romantically."

"We grew up in the same house. We shared a bathroom. It would have been really awkward. He's my best friend."

"All good reasons why you wouldn't want to consider it."

"I don't know. It's a lot. And he says nothing has to change, that he'll give me space to think if that's what I want, but it does change things."

"Because you've given yourself a long list of reasons why you aren't allowed to think of Barry that way. And he's just given you a reason why you are. But he really does mean that he doesn't expect anything from you. All that matters to him is that you're in his life."

"Thanks, Hartley. Your-"

"Oh, no, that is over. Has been for a long time. Maybe one day I'll meet someone new and not mess it up, but that's over."

"If you ever want to talk about it, you can talk to me."

"Maybe one day. How's your blog?"

"Getting more readers every week. I think I know why Dad didn't want me doing it at first, or Barry."

"They were worried about you," Hartley said. "And you have been kidnapped twice because of it. I know it actually means quite a lot to Barry though. And me."

"You help people. I know I've been mostly focused on the Flash, my article about Snart was the first time I mentioned you-"

"I haven't been out as much as he has, and that's not why. I'm a metahuman. And my powers, they're... I can control sound waves to an extent, and I can hypnotise people. I’ve only done it once, and only because Barry needed help and I didn’t know what to do, I didn’t mean to, but… Even if Reverse Flash doesn't know it's me, which I'm sure he does, is it a surprise they decided I'm a criminal too?"

"But you're a good person," Iris said. "And I didn't need to know it was you under the mask and hood to know that. Actually, I was hoping I could talk to you about S.T.A.R. Labs."

"Oh?"

"Barry told me what you know about this Pipeline. I thought it would be good to write an article."

"They're working with C.C.P.D."

"Exactly why they need to be held accountable by the press."

"Barry said you wanted to be a detective."

"My dad's one, and my grandfather was, but Dad didn't like the idea. I took psychology because of Ma, and Barry has his fair share of mental health issues even if he was always so against going to therapy and refused any diagnosis that referred to the Man in Yellow as a hallucination, I wanted to help, I only took journalism because I had to take another class and Barry suggested it. But I like it. And making sure people know the truth about the world is important."

"So people like the Reverse Flash don't get away with whatever he's been doing for the past fourteen years."

"I have a lot of questions about him I intend to get to the bottom of. But I think right now it's more important someone speaks up about the situation at S.T.A.R. Labs."

"I'll see if Cisco will talk to you. I can't make promises, he's still loyal to who he thinks is Doctor Wells, but I'll try and talk to him next time I see him."

"You warned him the accelerator was dangerous."

"Yes. He fired me."

"Have you told anyone about that?"

"I think Doctor McGee spoke with Mason Bridge of Picture News just after, she kept my name out of it so I don't know how many people know it was me, he must because he's the one who fired me for warning him, but Cisco’s never mentioned it and I haven’t told him, so I imagine he kept it to himself."

"Mason Bridge has won a Pulitzer for his work, I don't know if he'd be willing to talk to me. Has anyone escaped from the Pipeline?"

"No. And I doubt they'll just let you walk into S.T.A.R. Labs either."

"I'll go talk to Captain Singh in the morning. See if he has any comments. Or if he knows more about what's going on. Maybe if I ask Mister Bridge politely enough times. Who else might be worth talking to?"

"If you can get an interview, Sapphire Stagg. We think Reverse Flash killed Simon Stagg a few months ago, it's been advertised as a heart attack but maybe she knows something. At the very least Stagg Industries is a competitor of S.T.A.R. Labs, I know a few employees went there after the accelerator, she'll have a comment of some kind."

"I'll try Cecile Horton too, the D.A., she's an old friend of Dad's. Maybe they'll have other leads for me to follow too."

"Maybe you should ask Barry if you can speak to Felicity Smoak too. She might be able to lend you a hand."

"I'll talk to him tomorrow after I've called Stagg Industries and Ms Horton. It's a start."

"You know where to find me if you need any help."


End file.
